The Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards in Canada 2024

When you’re choosing a balance transfer credit card, you want to be sure you’re saving money. Each card also has its own perks, and those who have special offers have time limits for these promotional rates. That’s why it’s also important to look at the non-promotional rates. Here are some of the best balance transfer cards in Canada. 

Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards

If you’re looking to transfer your credit card balance from one credit card to another, it’s important that you take a look at when the interest rates are on the new card. You should also take note of the balance transfer fee. Not all credit cards have the same offers, so you want to be sure that you’re saving money by transferring your balance. Here are some great options for balance transfer cards. 

Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card

If you’re looking for a good balance transfer credit card, the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card is a great option. With this card, you can get 2% back on 2 purchase categories of your choice and 0.5% on the rest. There are no annual fees, and you can get up to $100 (10%) cashback in your first 2 months. 

If you transfer right now, you can get 1.95% on all transfers up to your available credit limit for your first 6 months, and the transfer fee is only 1%. After that, the purchase interest for this credit card is 19.95%. For cash advances, the interest rate is 19.95%, and there’s a $3.50 fee. However, as of October 3, 2024, the interest rates will increase to 20.95%. 

Scotiabank Value Visa Card

Not only is the Scotiabank Value Visa Card a great option for a balance transfer credit card, but it’s also an ultra low-interest rate credit card. Currently, there’s an introductory rate of 0% for balance transfer amounts in the first 10 months, with a rate of 13.99% after that. The annual fee is $29, but it’s waived for the first year. The minimum credit limit is $500.

MBNA True Line Mastercard

MBNA True Line Mastercard also has one of the best balance transfer offers for balance transfer customers. For 12 months, you can get 0% interest on balance transfers. This card's purchase interest rate is 12.99%, and the regular balance transfer rate is 17.99%. Cash advance interest rates are 24.99%.

The benefits included with this MBNA credit card are Mastercard Zero Liability Protection and savings with Avis and Budget Rent-A-Car. You can also get up to 9 authorized users with no annual fee and save money with the MBNA payment plan. 

Scotia Momentum No-Fee Visa Card

The Scotia Momentum No-Fee Visa Card is another Scotiabank credit card that offers a promotional rate on balance transfer cards. You can get 0% interest on balance transfers for the first 6 months as well as 5% cash back on all purchases (up to $2000) for the first 3 months. After that, the interest rate is 22.99%. The minimum credit limit is $500, and there’s no annual fee. 

Included with this card is the Scotiabank Credit Card Protection Plan. If you opt-in for this insurance, it can pay off your balance or make your credit card payments in the event you’re unable to make them. You can also save up to 25% on car rentals with Avis. 

MBNA True Line Gold Mastercard

Like some of the other cards we have mentioned, the MBNA True Line Gold Mastercard is a low-rate credit card. The purchase interest rate is 10.99%, cash advances are 24.99%, and balance transfers are 13.99%. There’s also an annual fee of $39. 

Just like some other credit cards, the True Line Gold Mastercard also offers some additional benefits, including:

• Purchase assurance
• Extended warranty benefits
• Savings with Avis and Budget Rent-A-Car
• Trip Assistance and Legal Assistance
• Mastercard Zero Liability Protection

BMO Preferred Rate Mastercard

With the BMO Preferred Rate Mastercard, you can get an interest rate of just 13.99% on all purchases and 15.99% on cash advances. There’s also an annual fee of only $29. However, if you choose to do a balance transfer now, you can get a promotional balance transfer offer of 0.99% for 9 months with a 2% balance transfer fee. Also, your annual fee for the first year will be waived. 

With this card, you can also get another cardholder for free, 24/7 emergency support as well as purchase and extended warranty protection. This card also has zero liability protection. For a low fee, you can turn your credit card purchases into low, interest-free monthly payments with BMO SmartPlan. 

CIBC Select Visa Card

Another low-rate credit card that offers a great rate on balance transfers is the CIBC Select Visa Card. With this card, there’s an annual fee of $29, and the interest rate is 13.99%. When you get a balance transfer, though, you can get 0% interest for up to 10 months with a 1% transfer fee. You can also get an annual rebate on your first year's annual fee. 

With this card, you can transfer up to 50% of your credit limit with the balance transfer offer. During the 10-month period, any new purchases won’t qualify for the grace period and will be subject to the 13.99% interest. 

Some other perks included with this card are:

• Common carrier accident insurance
• Visa’s zero liability policy
• No transaction fees on CIBC global money transfers

BMO Cashback Mastercard

BMO offers the BMO Cashback Mastercard. With this card, you can get a 0.99% introductory balance transfer offer on balance transfers for 9 months with a 2% transfer fee. Plus, there’s no annual fee on this card. The regular rates are 20.99% on purchases and 22.99% on cash advances. 

In terms of rewards, you can get 3% cashback on all grocery purchases. When you register for recurring bill payments, you will get 1% back. All other purchases are 0.5% cashback. As for other additional benefits, this card includes:

• 7% savings on booking.com 
• 20% off Cirque du Soleil shows in Canada and 15% off Las Vegas residency shows
• 20% off National and Alamo car rentals
• Extended warranty and purchase protection
• BMO PaySmart

Scotia Momentum For Business Visa

With the Scotia Momentum for Business Visa, you can get an introductory interest rate of 2.99% on balance transfers for the first 6 months. After that, the interest rate is 22.99%, and there’s an annual fee of $79. The purchase interest rate on this card is 19.99%, and cash advances are 22.99%. The credit limit ranges from $500 to $150,000.

RBC Credit Card Balance Transfers

While there are no offers for balance transfers with RBC, you can balance transfers to any of their credit cards as long as you qualify. You can transfer your balance by calling RBC. They’ll perform the transfer and assign the appropriate rates to the card. Here are a few of the different credit cards you can get with RBC. 

TD Credit Card Balance Transfers

Just like RBC, TD credit cards in Canada currently don’t have any balance transfer offers. That said, they do offer a wide range of credit cards that you can use to transfer a balance if you qualify. Here’s a look at some. 

Balance Transfers and Your Credit Score

Depending on your situation and how you approach a balance transfer, you can either hurt your credit score, improve it, or it can have no effect. This is because credit cards affect your credit score with credit utilization. This is how much of your credit limit is used of your total limit. Let’s take a look at how your credit score and credit report can be affected. 

Improving Your Score

The simplest way to improve your credit score with a balance transfer is by increasing your credit limit. Say you currently have a credit card with a high balance and a high interest rate. By getting an approval on a balance transfer card with the same limit or higher and lower interest rate, you can benefit greatly. 

You’ll save money on your payments, but you’ll also improve your credit score. This is because your overall credit limit will be much higher by having two credit cards. This reduces your overall credit utilization without making payments, improving your credit score. 

Reducing Your Score

The main way you’ll reduce your credit score with a balance transfer credit card is by reducing your credit limit. If you go from a higher-limit credit card to a lower-limit credit card, it will negatively impact you. In this scenario, it’s best to keep the credit card you paid off and not use it. This will improve your credit score considerably. 

No Impact

If you switch from one credit card to another with the same limit, then your credit score won’t be impacted at all. In order to improve your credit score, you will need to pay your credit card down to 35% of your total limit. In this scenario, you should save money as long as you switch to a lower-interest credit card. 

Easiest Balance Transfer Credit Card to Get

The great thing about most of the balance transfer credit cards that we mentioned is that there are no annual income amounts that you need to qualify. Because of this, as long as you have a decent credit score, you should be able to get approved. 

That said, some of these providers can be a bit more particular than others. Usually, the big banks tend to be much more difficult to get approved for. For this reason, the easiest balance transfer credit cards to get are with Tangerine or MBNA. That said, just because you’re approved doesn’t mean that you get the total credit limit that you request. 

Alternatives to Balance Transfer Cards

If you’re looking to pay off a credit card but don’t want to use a balance transfer credit card or you can’t. There are some alternatives available to you. While these options aren’t ideal for everyone, they can help you get a handle on your existing debt. 

Debt Consolidation Loan

One way to pay off credit cards and other debts while reducing your payments is with a debt consolidation loan. These loans have much lower interest rates than high-interest debt from credit cards and allow you to create a structured debt repayment plan. With many of these debt consolidation loans, you can also pay them off early and reduce your overall interest rate. 

Debt Payoff Plan

One thing you can do to pay off your credit card debt is to come up with a realistic repayment plan yourself. However, because credit card interest rates are high, it’s important to make large payments whenever possible. This reduces your interest rate and pays off your principal amount and interest charges faster.

Debt Management Plan

Another option you can use is to speak to a credit counsellor. Credit counsellors can negotiate with your credit card company and reduce or void your debt altogether. However, this will have a negative impact on your credit score. It can often make it difficult to get any future lending for a while as well. 

Using a credit counsellor also allows you to create a payment plan with your credit card company. They can help you create a structured plan to pay off your card in an allotted amount of time. 

Balance Transfer Fees Per Bank

When it comes to credit card balance transfers, you need to look at the balance transfer interest rate as well as the transfer fees. Each credit card provider charges their own transfer fee, whether there are interest charges or not. Let’s take a look. 

How Balance Transfers Work

With a credit card balance transfer, essentially, one credit card is paying off the other existing balance. In order to do this, balance transfer funds are essentially a credit card cash advance using funds from one credit card to pay off a higher-interest credit card. This is why you may notice that balance transfer rates are the same as cash advance interest rates. 

When you decide to make a balance transfer, you should look at the interest rates carefully. If the provider doesn’t state their balance transfer rate, it’s more than likely the cash advance interest rate. No matter which card you use, the rate starts once the balance transfer’s completed.

With most credit card providers, when you do a balance transfer, balance transfer promotions are only for the amounts transferred. Usually, you have to pay the purchase interest rate right away on new purchases, and they may even waive the interest-free grace period for the duration of the promotional interest rates. This can make it more expensive for new purchases but much cheaper for transferred balances. 

Are Balance Transfer Cards A Good Idea?

Whether or not balance transfers are a good idea is based on your financial situation and the rate of the balance transfer. If you only have one credit card and get approved for a 0% interest balance transfer card, it could help you pay off your balance quickly with reduced interest. However, you should be sure to budget so you can pay off before the balance transfer promotion ends. Often, the interest rate is really high after that. Ultimately, you should see how much the balance transfer saves you. 

If you have multiple credit cards or really high debt, it may not be the best idea to get a new balance transfer card. You’re essentially just adding another credit card to the pile, which can increase your credit card debt. In a situation like this, you may want to consider a debt consolidation loan. They have lower interest rates and structured payment plans. 

Pros and Cons of Balance Transfer Cards

As we’ve mentioned, there are great things about many balance transfer cards, but there are also some downsides. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons. 

Pros

One of the biggest pros of a balance transfer credit card is the interest rates. Their rates are much lower than a standard credit card, especially if they offer a 0% promotional period. The traditional credit card has a rate of 19.99%.

Another benefit of these cards is that they’re much easier to pay off. This is largely due to the fact that 0% interest rates allow you to focus on paying the principal debt amount instead of just making the minimum payments. However, these great rates have a time limit, so creating a payment plan is key. 

Cons

Before you get a balance transfer credit card, it’s important to consider the cons as well as the pros. One of the things many people overlook about these cards is that they aren’t the best for making new purchases. The promotional rate only applies to transferred funds. 

Unlike traditional credit cards, balance transfer cards always don’t have the best rewards programs. For this reason, many people switch to a better rewards credit card once their outstanding debt is paid off. 

Lastly, you need to consider the expiration of the promotional rate. If you’re going to transfer over your balance, you should plan carefully how you can get the debt paid off in the time you have. Otherwise, you could end up paying more on the outstanding balance than before you did the balance transfer. 

Final Thoughts

When it comes to balance transfer credit cards, you have plenty of options. That said, you should consider which one you want very carefully. You should look not only at the promotional rate but also at the timeline. You should realistically be able to pay off the amount you owe in that period of time. 

With so many offers out there, not only can you transfer balances to the same bank, but you can also transfer to different providers. The goal with any balance transfer credit card, though, is to not have the same balance or even a remaining balance once the low interest rate ends. That said, no matter what you choose to do, the key to getting a handle on your debt and success in your financial future is reducing your balances and taking control of your payments.